Defense to Rest in Trial of 3 Ex-Dewey & LeBoeuf Leaders

The lawyers for three former executives of Dewey & LeBoeuf must feel confident that prosecutors have failed to prove that the men used accounting gimmicks to defraud lenders and creditors of the once-prominent New York law firm.

The defense team plans to formally rest its case on Tuesday without calling a single witness to testify in the criminal trial, which began in late May. The lawyers are also expected on Tuesday to renew a request for the judge to dismiss the case.

Prosecutors have indicated they may dismiss some of the criminal charges before the case goes to the jury.

The lawyers for Steven H. Davis, the firm’s former chairman; Stephen DiCarmine, the former executive director; and Joel Sanders, the former chief financial officer, on Thursday told Justice Robert M. Stolz of New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan that they intended to proceed directly to closing arguments when the trial resumes after the Labor Day holiday.

“The people haven’t proved their case beyond a reasonable doubt,” said Austin Campriello, the lawyer for Mr. DiCarmine.

Mr. Campriello, a partner with Bryan Cave, said in a phone interview that the lawyers for all the defendants had told the judge they did not plan to call any witnesses during a discussion in court about the proposed jury instructions for the criminal case.

Elkan Abramowitz, the lawyer for Mr. Davis, said it was not always necessary for a defendant to call witnesses “if you can prove your defense through cross-examination.”

Still, the decision by the defense team not to call any witnesses is a bit of a surprise given that prosecutors working for Cyrus R. Vance Jr., the Manhattan district attorney, have called more than 40 witnesses during weeks of often-tedious testimony about law firm accounting procedures.

On one hand, it is risky not to put on any witnesses to rebut the testimony and evidence introduced by the prosecution. But the strategy could also bolster the argument raised by the defense lawyers during opening statements and during cross-examination that the prosecution’s case is weak and based mainly on testimony from cooperating witnesses, who pleaded guilty in hopes of receiving no prison time.

In 2014, Mr. Vance’s office charged Mr. Davis, Mr. DiCarmine and Mr. Sanders with dozens of counts of larceny, fraud and falsifying business records. The lengthy indictment, which included excerpts from emails sent by the three men, all of whom are lawyers, painted a picture of a well-orchestrated campaign to mask Dewey’s failing finances from banks and insurers that either lent the firm money or invested in a $150 million bond offering.

Also charged was a fourth man, Zachary Warren, who worked as a client relations manager and is now also a lawyer. He is scheduled to be tried after the current trial concludes.

The stakes are high for Mr. Vance, as the case against the former Dewey executives is one of the most prominent white collar criminal trials his office has overseen.

The collapse of Dewey in bankruptcy in 2012 brought down the curtain on a law firm that once employed more than 1,200 lawyers around the world and at its peak generated $1 billion in gross revenue. The firm began to struggle financially during the financial crisis when lucrative merger and acquisition advisory work dried up and it was obligated to pay big salaries to a number of its senior partners.

The defense lawyers have tried to poke holes in the prosecution’s case by suggesting that the accounting maneuvers and adjustments that Mr. Vance’s team has said broke the law added up to just a few million dollars for the firm.

The trial, which had been expected to last up to six months, is now likely to wrap up much sooner. That should be a relief to the jurors, who were told by the judge during jury selection that they might not begin deliberations until sometime in November.

Now, it would appear, deliberations could start as soon as the end of next week.

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page B5 of the New York edition with the headline: Defense to Rest in Trial of Dewey & LeBoeuf Leaders. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe